After that 5-2 victory over Ottawa, looking beyond Stalock to the role Sheppard played — and more

OTTAWA – These days, the general response to yet another Sharks victory is: How did they do that?

Which, I suppose, is a good sign. When the Sharks were trampling one team after another, you knew how they were doing it. Now? With key players missing and a sense some night that they didn’t play all that well, they keep on winning.

The print edition story that you can find here puts a heavy emphasis on Alex Stalock and his role in the 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators, a team that looked much better when it challenged the Sharks in San Jose on Oct. 12.

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But there were other players worthy of note who may have gotten the short shrift.

Like James Sheppard, who scored a goal that pretty much dashed Ottawa’s comeback hopes.

Twice now I ran into the group of men from Halifax – the Nova Scotia capital where Sheppard grew up – who have been following the Sharks since Boston. Yes, one of those guys is Sheppard’s dad. But when I referred to him tonight, he interrupted . . .

“Actually, mama bear is here too, so it was great,” Sheppard said. “Nova Scotia flags in the stands, so it was awesome. There was about 25 of them here, so I’d say a great thanks to those guys for coming.”

The group showed up in Boston only to see Sheppard get scratched.

“I don’t like sending the message that way, but I still think James was — not comfortable because that’s a bad word — but just letting himself off the hook, not expecting as much from himself as much as we did. He proved there’s a lot more there.”

He started proving it Saturday night in Montreal, getting some shifts on Joe Thornton’s line. Sunday night, he took a nice behind-the-net feed from Thornton and drilled it over Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson’s glove to turn a 3-2 game into a 4-2 game.

“Yeah, it was awesome. It’s a lot of fun playing up there,” Sheppard said. “On this stretch, we really wanted this last one to keep us going. It was huge for us. We played a full 60 and had a great trip.”

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Sheppard, much like Stalock, is a reclamation project in that both players have come back from serious injuries. But unlike Stalock, who starts with a clean slate, Sheppard already came with a reputation as a player who failed to live up to expectations with the Minnesota Wild, who made him their 2006 first-round draft pick and brought him straight to the NHL from the Q.

Which gets back to what McLellan had to say.

“I think Shep’s a great player. I think sometimes Shep lets himself off the hook. I think there’s more there. We expect more from him.

“You go back to the last two games, very productive,” McLellan continued. “He had a chance to go up and play . . . moved his feet. He’s a hard guy to handle because of his size. He can’t let himself off the hook, he’s got to continue to do what he’s done the last two games.”

****We did try to get more information from Doug Wilson on Brent Burns’s injury. Beyond his acknowledgement that it would be “fair to say” it was not expected to be long-term, we came away with little more than a commitment to say we’d talk again Tuesday.

Wilson said the problem does stem from the goalie stick that caught Burns in the mouth when the Sharks played Ottawa at SAP Center on Oct. 12. Burns joked about it that night and played another three games, but apparently the damage extended beyond the mouth to the sinus and nasal areas as well. McLellan had said that Burns took a second hit in the Oct. 19 game against Calgary, but Wilson said he had no information on that.

****I stand corrected. The Ottawa Senators now play their home games in Ottawa, not Kanata. The rink didn’t move, but the geographic boundaries shifted. Thank you, @SunGarrioch, for straightening me out.

****The Sharks flew home after beating Ottawa, have Monday off and will practice at Sharks Ice on Tuesday before flying to Los Angeles for Wednesday night’s game.

Me? Tomorrow’s my travel day, but it’ll end in Los Angeles. I’ve got Tuesday off and @CurtisPashelka will be covering the Sharks in San Jose. I’ll be there waiting for the team when it arrives Wednesday.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Same old Sharks…. steadily increasing their goal differential by winning games.

zakk the bear

Hurt his hand blocking a shot, likely back for the LA game.

mn_test347

“The Ottawa Senators now play their home games in Ottawa, not Kanata. The rink didn’t move,”

The rink is in a farmer’s field halfway to Arnprior. It would be like having the Shark Tank off Bailey Avenue. Ugh.

ZEKE

1/3 of the payroll is out and we’re winning on the road? Jeez. I’m a big fan of spreading out the talent so you can roll 4 lines and TMc is doing that. It’s paying dividends now and it’ll pay dividends later on as well.

GP_hockeyhappens

I know what you are talking about, but, it isn’t as simple as spreading out the talent, IMO.

There is a big enough difference between spreading out the talent and being a “deep” team. That IMO was a proven concept in the POs when Torres was Shanahanned. The Sharks depth was tested. There wasn’t enough to effectively replace Raffi, and the result was JoeP was moved up. The 3 guys filling the holes weren’t available or not ready.

IOW, Sheppard has only played once on a line 1 or 2 and parts of other games. But, not a significant part of the 10 wins offensively. Another example, Pavelski is separated from the top 2 because there are finally players that can fill in that same role on those lines. This might sound counter intuitive to many, but IMO, when JoeP is on a top 2 line, he is “under” utilized. He now get’s more faceoffs, and runs the line, and his reliable defensive and forechecking smarts are on display.

ZEKE

I completely agree with Pavelski and ‘underutilized’. He really is a guy who can make average players into good ones. Having him on a top line doesn’t bring that extra value out. Would anyone think that a line that is 2/3 made up of Wingels and Nieto would be productive? With Pavs in the middle, it sure is.

G-bum-man

Captain Obvious here to make an observation–here goes:
The Pavs, Wingels, Nieto line works well ’cause it has great balance. Pavs is a wily vet with great skills. Wingels is hard charging and physical. Nieto is pure speed. Throw them in a blender, hit the button. Out comes balance– because they all have attributes that compliment each other. Well- that is my opinion for why it works.

I too am pleasantly surprised at this group’s production. Obviously a very long way to go but I wonder if Hertl, Nieto, Shepherd, Hamilton, McCarthy etal can sustain it.
Who could have foreseen Thornton centering for Shepherd and Hamilton?
All about skating ability with this team, except perhaps for “Pokey”.
In addition to Hertl, biggest surprise is the healthy Braun.
Have a good one. Off to MN. JP

Buddy Elf

While I am not surprised about the Sharks doing awesome, the Avs doing awesome is something I don’t think anyone expected. They are a point behind the Sharks with a game in hand.

Guess who hasn’t been contributing to that. McGinn only has 3 goals… We’ve covered that kind of scoring with Tommy Wingels (3 goals)… 3 of our d-men have 1 less goal than McGinn.

Plus, Sgarbossa didn’t make the team nor has he received a call up.

—–

In other “omgz i wish we had them back” news…

Seto 2 goals… Heatley 1 goal.

Man, I wish we had that kind of scoring power back.

ZEKE

I wouldn’t slam anyone for 3 goals and 5 points in 10 games, which is what McGinn has done for Colorado. Appears he has done that without being on the PP. But if you want to complete the thought on that trade, the guys that we got from that trade have put up 0 points for us this year.

GP_hockeyhappens

ZEKE, I think you’re missing what I think BE’s point is, and this one is mine also, that with some hand-wringers here at WTC, it’s mostly about the players that DW traded away.

And after all, it’s foreshadowed conclusion that everyone MUST have because everyone that DW traded for is going to suck when they get here.

WI JP

McGinn? Move on.

Buddy Elf

Most of the non-intelligent conversation about the trade wasn’t about the trade (and was usually just ranting)… it’s about the players we let go. We never hear the end of it when McGinn is on a streak, or Heatley is doing well. It important that when they aren’t scoring, those same people hear about it.

Lastly, as the point I made, Wingels made McGinn replaceable. 3 goals and 8 point in 12 games. Sure, the players we got didn’t work out, but the wishing to have McGinn back which we see all of the time, his scoring has been replaced (and then some).

When the goals per game was down for the Sharks vs the years those players were Sharks, we didn’t hear the end of it. Now that scoring is up, still without those players, all i hear is how it’s just the beginning of the season, they’ll fall off like before, etc… not once a mention about how DW was able to put the right pieces in place… and how it’s happening despite injuries, and it’s spread across the roster.

Topcatone

I for one think that being on Thornton’s line is a training ground for the young ones, and is deliberate (at least early in the season and with us playing so well). And, to make them work hard to stay or get back there. I see Thornton as a great on ice teacher/asset.

Topcatone

Braun seems to really be getting more and more confident out there. He is not that slow, and glad to see him aggressively move up the ice. The whole team seems to get that the first thing is to head to the goal, where good things happen. Of course, our speed and great backchecking this year allows a little bit of chance taking. Did I mention that the Shark’s finally have the quickness and speed to pinch the D whenever possible? Makes a big difference in tiring out the other team and keeping the stars out of our zone.

agree. but to take it further i miss something out of wingels. on one hand i like him along boards he tends to keep pucks he reaches first but on the others hand he hardly overpowers any D. i wish he was bigger. I also wish he had more Sheppard in him and be more patient with the puck. Otherwise no complaints. Points are great. Pavs isnt big either but he stands his ground agains most of D.

Huh?

To throw another log on that fire – Clowe on IR. His season to date is 15+ mpg for 6 games. One goal, no assists.

Not a knock on Clowe. He and Murray gave 100%. But the team is better without them. Different style, which those guys couldn’t play. M own thinking is even if DW got nothing, the team is better.

JasonB

It’s good work if you can find it…

Clemenza

OK, Marty….let’s see if the doc put a pair in there when you were under the knife for your pelvic operation….
I see this as a showcase more than anything unless he buys into the new system.